Conceive and Believe

Mental Self Help

Is it actually possible to get mental self-help by reading a book? Most qualified psychotherapists would say no. This is because the same mind that is sick cannot manage its own cure. That is like asking a bartender to take good care of an alcoholic or a coyote to take good care of a bunny. Still most people can’t afford a psychiatrist and have to find some way to fix themselves up if they are suffering from some kind of mental anguish.

Despite the illogical nature of the mental self help industry, books and self help courses in this subject area abound (especially on the internet.) Some of the more common mental problems that people seek help for include: adult attention deficit disorder, adult Asperger’s syndrome, depression, dyslexia, manic depression, codependency, addiction, paranoia, insomnia and memory loss. All of these are conditions where mind can’t cure mind.

Before you embark on any kind of course of mental self-help you are well advised to first get yourself checked out by a physician. This is because many of the disorders that are described above are actually symptomatic of more serious afflictions. For instance mood swings could be attributed to brain cancer. Lung cancer can cause insomnia. One of the first symptoms of diseases of all kinds is sleeplessness and depression.

Often what people mistake for ADD, memory loss or manic depression is actually brain damage caused by recreational drug use and drinking. Before you spend a lot of money on self-help courses make sure that your mental problems are not actually caused by physical complications due to being addicted to something.

Yet another problem that many defects of character are actually interpreted as mental problems. For instance, not having a conscience is not a mental problem (as in not knowing right from wrong), it is a problem of character. Being in denial about an addiction is also a character flaw and not a mental problem. Problems like hypochondria, dyslexia and depression fall more into the category of being mental problems.

Some types have mental problems actually have a real physical component. For instance a sociopath may not be able to change because he was born with fetal alcohol syndrome, which causes brain damage. Drug abuse, being deprived of oxygen, high fevers and blows to the head can also cause brain damage. If you suspect you have brain damage then mental self-help books are not likely to help you that much.

A self-prescribed course of mental self-help usually only has a chance of working if you are willing to drop bad habits and attitudes, take a reality check and change your life style. The problem is that achieving mental self-help often requires the kind of clear perspective and discipline that most sick brains don’t have. This is where joining a support group might come in handy as studies have shown that people have a greater success rate when it comes to beating their demons if they have the support of people with similar problems.

Tags: mental self help, adult attention deficit disorder, Drug abuse, Asperger’s syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome

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Although it’s not my favorite thing to be in the world, I am a mouth ulcer. My street name is most commonly: canker sore. I’ve got a fancy name, and that involves painful open sores that will exist in your mouth when the mucous membrane breaks. You might also choose to call me one of these other names: aphthous stomatitis or aphthous ulcer. Now that we have that out of the way..

I will often being with a tingling or burning sensation in your mouth. This ‘tingling’ or ‘burning’ will exist in the place where the future mouth ulcer, canker sore, aphthous stomatitis or aphthous ulcer will exist. It won’t take me longer than a few days to turn into the state of a red bump or spot inside your mouth, which will then be followed by an open ulcer.

Once at the open ulcer state I will appear as a white or yellow oval with an inflamed red border. Modestly I will be approximately 3 mm wide, however, for quick bragging rights, I can reach up to and beyond 1 cm wide in extreme cases. If I’ve done my job really well, you will be able to see a white circle or halo around the lesion.

My main body, the ulcer, is often times very painful when agitated. This can also be accompanied by sore swelling of the lymph node. If your unsure of where your lymph nodes are, they exist below your jaw. For this locational reason I can often times be mistaken for a toothache at first. Open your mouth, look inside, I’m not!Your lucky with me, that normally I will go away without any treatment. The best start is to make sure you have good oral hygiene and avoid spicy/acidic/salty foods and drinks. The best and widely known ‘home remedy’ for dealing with me is to pour salt directly onto my main ulcer. This works but note - can be painful.

Popularity: 31% [?]

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I am Hepatitis C a form of hepatitis liver inflammation that is caused by a virus known on the street as HCV. Before HCV was discovered in 1989, they used to refer to me as a related name to my little brothers, “non-A-non-B hepatitus”. A laughing stock of the virus world, but that all changed in 1989.

Approximately 15 to 20 percent of people are able to deal with me and develop immunity. That doesn’t speak for the rest, and also 15 to 20 percent of them that will show acute signs of the me, Hepatitus C.

It is known that for each 100 chronic Hepatitis C patients, 20 will develop liver cirrhosis. Liver cirrhosis is a nasty scarring of the liver, which can progress into Liver cancer. I have infected over 180 million people around the world, and am now responsible for the majority of liver transplants, Hepatocellular carcinoma and also the major cause of death among HIV co-infected patients.

Most times, people that are carrier me in the chronic state, chronic hepatitis C, will have no symptoms. This doesn’t speak well for myself, but without further delay over time I can cause long term damage to the liver. This is due to my blood borne nature. I work slowly and severe liver damage may not develop until 10-40 years after my initial infection. Mixing things up, my symptoms vary based on each individual carrier. Often times they will resemble flu symptoms which include:

- body aches

- loss of appetite

- headaches

- diarrhea

- fatigue

- nausea- nightsweats

- abdominal pain

- upper right quadrant pain

Because, like I mentioned, these symptoms resemble the flue, most people are not aware that they have me until they visit a doctor and have a physical exam. Even then sometimes I can go unnoticed unless they have blood work done. Cases often exist, where a individuals will go to donate bllod or plasma, and will return positive results to a HCV test.

Needle sharing, drug sharing, and unprotected sex are just a few ways in which I can spread rampantly. It’s as simple as blood-to-blood contact. Wherever that exists I also exist. Things like piercings and tattoo needles are some of my favorites.

Popularity: 20% [?]

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I, Hepatic Porphyrias, primarily affect the nervous system, which can result in: abdominal pain, vomiting, acute neuropathy, seizures, and mental disturbances that include: hallucinations, depression, anxiety, and paranoia. Often times I can be involved in Cardiac arrhythmias and tachycardia as the autonomic nervous system is affected by my presence in the body.

Severe pain is most times present, and in some more rare cases, can be acute and chronic in nature. One of my favorites is that I can often times bring about constipation, because of my huge presence in the nervous system of the gut.

The erythropoietic porphyrias primarily affect the skin, which can cause photosensitivity, blisters, itching, and swelling, and increased hair growth on areas such as the forehead. In some of my forms, accumulated heme precursors excreted in the urine may change its color; For example after exposure to sunlight, I can change your urine to a dark reddish or dark brown color.

I can be diagnosed through tests on your blood, urine, and stool. The initial test for my presence in your body is through the estimation of porphobilinogen. More extensive testing is done usually done after thsi initial porphobilinogen estimation with spectroscopy and other chemical analyses. I am a rare condition, so normally this testing involves sending samples of blood, stool and urine to a reference laboratory. If the diagnosic suspicion is high, often times, empirical treatment is required.

If diagnosed with me, a high-carbohydrate diet is most commonly recommended. If I have reached you in a sever fashion, a glucose 10% infusion is commenced, which can in most cases help in recovery. If it is drugs that have caused the attack, is is always essential and to my dismay, to discontinue their use. I recommend that you take a look, and quickly, into visiting your local doctor or physician if you suspect that you have been infected with me. Once properly diagnosed they will be able to point you in the right direction for how you will be able to cope with my presence.

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Parkinson’s disease (PD), a neurodegenerative disease of the substantia nigra, was first discovered and its symptoms documented in 1817. This discovery and docomentation was by British physician Dr. James Parkinson.

It wasn’t until the 1960’s that the associated biochemical changes in the brain of patients were able to be identified. Although many genes have recently been identified, there are still several others that remain unkown. Parkinson’s disease involves a progressive movement disorder of the extrapyramidal system. The extrapyramidal system controls and adjusts communication between neurons in the brain and muscles in the human body. As you can see this is a huge, and important task. PD will commonly coincide with depression and disturbances of sensory systems due to the damage that it has on the brain. Aprroximately one out of every 600 people have Parkinson’s disease in the United States of America. The rates increase with age, especially apparent in those over 55. Still unknown, is the cause of Parkinson’s disease. 9 different genetic defects have been found. Each of these nine cause the disease in 1 or a few more familes with extremely high incidences of the disease. This unfortunately hasn’t take geneticists further as these familes are so rare to find. Although strong inheritance patterns are extremely rare, an person who is infected with PD is 3 to 4 times more likely to have a close relative who also has PD.

Today the strongest theory for the cause of Parkinson’s disease is from “the combination of a subtle genetically-determined vulnerability to environmental toxins along with even limited exposure to those toxins. The toxins most strongly suspected at present are certain pesticides and industrial metals.”

I wish that I had an answer like many others do to the cause of Parkinson’s. One thing that we know though, is that as science and technology increases, so will man’s understanding of diseases such as Parkinson’s.

Popularity: 21% [?]

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Rubella has many names: Roseola, German measles, three-day measles to name a few. Rubella is often mild which means that in several cases initial attacks will go unnoticed. This initially is not a bad thing; Although it does make the virus very hard to properly diagnose. In most cases the Rubella virus will enter in the human body through the nose or throat. Rubella can last between one and five days.

It has been proven through studies that children can cover from the virus more quickly than adults as their immune system is more active, or just more simpy in better shape. Common to most viruses that live in the respiratory tract, Rubella is passed from person to person by tiny droplets in the air. These are droplets that are breathed out during normal respiration. It is important to note that the Rubella virus can also be transferred from mother to developing baby in the bloodstream by way of the placenta. Generally the incubation period for Rubella is two to three weeks. That is how long it takes to establish itself.

Above I said that another name for Rubella is the German measles. That’s funny because the name “German Measles” actually has nothing to do with the coutnry of Germany. Instead it comes from the latin, which means ’similar’; This is because rubella and measles share common symptoms.

Symptoms of rubella include:

- Swollen glands or lymph nodes

- Joint pain and swelling

- Inflammation of the eyes

- Flaking (caused by dry skin)

- Nasal congestion

- Pain in the testicles

- Loss of appetite

- Fever

- Headache

- Rash

Popularity: 17% [?]

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I am Malaria, an infectious disease. Every year I kill approximately one point three million humans, and infect another 350-500 million. My work is mostly in the tropics where favorable climates and lifestyles aid in my process. Over 85% of deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. Do I have your attention?

Why I exist - I exist because as a result of the protozoan parasite. My mode of transit between humans for transmission is by mosquitos. Mosquitos are favorable as they are vast and persistent in their work, as I am in mine. Although everyone is vulnerable to my attacks, it is pregnant women and infants under the age of five that I have the most success with. A french army doctor names Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran first discovered me, and was awarded the Nobel prize for Physiology in 1907. (I am still waiting for my turn to win the award). It was Alphonse, Charles that was the first person to be able to describe my life cycle, as I develop in the bodies of mosquitos and of my many human hosts.

Do you have me? - Your starting to get a feeling for who I am; but how do you know if you have me? Trust me you’ll know! I can cause several things, aka Symtoms of Malaria. My specialties include but are not limited to: fever, shivering, arthralgia, vomiting, anemia, and if your looking for a really fun one: convulsions. Sometimes individuals will even feel a tingling sensation in their skin.

Why should you be listening to me?

If it isn’t my sleek lines or ingenuity you should be paying attention because of numbers. The number of victims every year that are infected with my virus. Infections are dangerous and complications with me, malaria, include coma and death if untreated. Young children again are especially vulnerable.

My specialty - Like I mentioned before I have chosen mosquitos and in particular the females ones to get around. When a female bites a person(if they have the correct sporozoites in their salivary glands, they will transfer the me, the virus, into the remote human body. I will then work my way into the liver where I will multiply inside of the hepatic liver cells. It is there where I will turn into merozoites, and enter into red blood cells, where I will continue to multiple. Sometimes if a relationship goes sour witin a red blood cell, I will break out, and move on. It is at this point of “break out” in which you will begin to experience waves of fever. These waves generally occur every 2-3 days. Ingenuity is what I call it when I stick inside of the liver and the red blood cells so that your immune sytem cannot ask me to leave. It is when relationships are good and I remain in the blood cells long enough to create surface protiens so that I can stick onto the walls of blood vessels, otherwise I see my fate, and am destroyed in the spleen. Because my surface protiens come in so many variations they can easily out smart your immune system, and I remain. Even when your immune system catched on to what I’m up to, I’ve already put on a new coat, and guess what. It’ll have to start from scratch. You can see how me hanging about in your blood vessels causes complications in your system.

Popularity: 16% [?]

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Hi, my name is Multiple Sclerosis. You know me as a chronic disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. I don’t really like that name or title so lets stick with MS for short.

I can cause a variety of symptoms, which include:

- Changes in sensation

- Visual problems

- Weakness

- Depression

- Difficulties with coordination

- Difficulties with speech

Several people that I affect will lead full and often times even use the “R word” (Rewarding) lives. That isn’t the case for everyone though as often times I can cause people the use of the “D word”, being disability and impaired mobility in cases where my work didn’t go quite as well as planned.

I, Multiple Sclerosis affect neurons, which are the cells of the brain and spinal cords that carry information. I’m quite crafy to choose these locations as they are some of the most important parts of your body, controlling the body, carrying information, and creating thought and perception. Around your neurons you have a layer of fat that helps your neurons carry electrical signals. Sounds weird, but it’s true. My affect on Neurons is the gradual break down of this fat, throughout the brain and spinal cord, which will cause several different symptoms depending on which signals I am able to disrupt. You might think that I work alone, but that is incorrect. I result from attacks by your immune system on its self. It’s like a civil war inside of your bodies immune system. Because I happen as a result of this war, I am called an autoimmune disease. Once again I prefer MS for short.

Popularity: 15% [?]

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Pneumonia, is when the lungs fill with fuild, and in turn prevent oxygen from reaching the bloodstream. This is a medical condition that can have result from severl diseases where the tiny, air-filled saces in the lung, which are responsible for absorbing oxygen from the air, are filled with fluid. Many different types of pneumonia exist. The most commony types are results of a bacterial infection of the lung. Several other things can cause pneumonia, such as viruses, fungi, and parasites.

Another type of pneumonia occurs as a result of chemical or physical irritation to the lungs.

A common sickness, pneumonia, occurs basically evenly among all age groups. Caused by infection in most cases, pneumonia, will often cause difficulty breathing, coughs, fevers, and chest pains. Antibiotic Medication is normally used to treat pneumonia when it has been caused by an infection.

Victims of pneumonia will often have a cough that produces green/yellow sputum. This is one of the leading symptoms of pneumonia as well as a high fever followed by shaking chills. Pneumonia is usually diagnosed by health care providers observations on a patient’s symptoms and discoveries from various physical examinations. Pneumonia diagnoses can be difficult for some people. This is especially true for those who have other illnesses at the time of examination. Often times physical examination by a health provider may reveal low amount of oxygen in the blood, low blood pressure, an increased respiratory rate, low body temperature, a fast heart rate, or a fever.

Popularity: 16% [?]

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Currently there are two polio vaccines that are in use throughout the world to fight against polio. Jonas Salk, the man who invented the first, started his work on a vaccine in 1955. The vaccine worked in two steps: first a dose of killed polio virus is injected, and then an oral polio vaccine must be taken which contains a live but much weakened form of the virus. This vaccine was first tested in 1957 on humans, and was later liscensed in 1962.

Currently there are two polio vaccines that are in use throughout the world to fight against polio. Jonas Salk, the man who invented the first, started his work on a vaccine in 1955. The vaccine worked in two steps: first a dose of killed polio virus is injected, and then an oral polio vaccine must be taken which contains a live but much weakened form of the virus. This vaccine was first tested in 1957 on humans, and was later liscensed in 1962.Then came along another vaccine that was developed by Sabin. This live-virus vaccine quickly became to more popular route of the two for 4 main reasons:

1. Due to it’s live state it has the ability to spread and to infect other individuals who have not been vaccinated. This sounds bad, but in the spread, it allows the remote body to build up some immunity to the virus.
   
2. Due to the fact that the oral vaccine performs its magic in the gut, it works on immunity there in the central system which in turn reduces the spread of the virus on the outside. If the polio vaccine is injected directly into the bloodstream it will immunize the inividual, however it does not not reduce his or her ability to spread the virus.
   
3. Everything is a matter of money these days, especially when it comes to healthcare. Sabin’s “live” vaccine was cheaper than than Salk’s “dead” vaccine.
   
4. The last reason for the increased popularity of Sabin’s vaccine is that the oral vaccine is alot easier to widely administer to the general population than the injected vaccine. This means that patients are more likely to complete the series of vaccinations that are required to attain full immunity.

Popularity: 16% [?]

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